Warriors: The Vicious Cycle
by iAttack Mentally
Summary: Many season after the time of Firestar, the peace around the lake will be threatened. Three littermates, whose heritage never caused problems before, will have their loyalty tested as cats become distrusting of their own Clanmates. -Full summary inside-
1. Prologue

**Full Summary**

**Many season after the time of Firestar, the peace around the lake will be threatened. Three littermates, whose heritage has never caused problems before, will have their loyalty tested as cats become distrusting of their own Clanmates. But is the problem something local? It is a problem fixable by cats alone, or will even StarClan have troubles guiding the Clans in the right direction?**

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**Prologue**

It was past moon-high and the midnight patrol and returned to the camp awhile earlier. Two she-cats sat still, guarding the thorn tunnel as a cold wing ruffled their fur. The bare branches of the trees above them rustled loudly, making it hard to hear sounds from deeper in the forest. The larger tortishell she-cat's ear flicked in annoyance as the wind began to howl through the forest again. It was the end of leaf-fall and the Clan would be lucky to have no snow before leaf-bare began.

The sound of the wind rushing through the trees began to die down, and the two she-cats hear the distinctive sound of paw steps coming towards them. The smaller white and blue-gray tabby she-cat jumped to her feet.

"Who are you and why our you in ThunderClan territory?" She hissed, her fur prickling.

A large, spotted, blue-gray tom appeared before the she-cats. Three small kits dangled by their scruffs from the tom's jaws. The tom had obviously been struggling to carry all three of the kits at once, so he placed them gently on the ground. The three kits cuddled close together in the cold. The two biggest were a blue-gray she cat and a pale golden she-cat while the runt was a scrawny dark ginger tom.

"Crowfoot!" The larger she-cat gasped, "What are you... where did you find them?"

"Emberfleck help me take these three to the nursery. I'm sure Snowfall will be kinda enough to take them in," Crowfoot started, "Froststreak you can continue guarding the camp, Emberfleck will return shortly."

Emberfleck picked up the smallest of the kits by his scruff while Crowfoot carried the other two. The warriors passed Froststreak quickly, missing the look of confusion on her face.

Crowfoot and Emberfleck quickly padded to the nursery where a white she-cat slept peacefully with her single kit. The warriors placed down the kits and Crowfoot nodded his thanks to Emberfleck as she silently walked off.

"Snowfall..." Mewed Crowfoot softly. "Snowfall it's Crowfoot wake up."

The white she-cat slowly awoke and looked up curiously at the tom in the nursery's entrance. Her gaze drifted to the three kits on the ground and she gasped.

"Great StarClan what is this Crowfoot?" Snowfall questioned.

"I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but can you take in these kits? They have no mother anymore." The tom mewed, avoiding Snowfall's question.

"Of course I will." The she-cat responded. Crowfoot then scooted the young kits over to Snowfall's belly, where they settled in next to her own kit.

"You'll want to have Duskstripe look at the kits in the morning." A low meow sounded from behind Crowfoot. "You know, to make sure their not sick from the long journey they made this late in leaf-fall." Snowfall gave a look of confusion to the newcomer. "Good evening Snowfall, I hope we haven't disturbed you too much."

"That's no problem, Copperstar. Being woken up late at night is exciting."

Copperstar purred with amusement. "Crowfoot and I will get out of your way. Have a nice night." The tom meowed, turning back towards his den. "Crowfoot, come with me. We need to talk in my den."

Crowfoot padded quickly to catch up with the older brown tabby tom. The pair made their way into Copperstar's den. Inside they sat facing each other silently for many moments. Suddenly, Copperstar's unreadable gaze turned into one of disappointment.

"Emberfleck mentioned when she came to alert me that the kits smelled of WindClan," Growled Copperstar.

"I was wondering how you found out about the kits."

"Don't change the subject!" Copperstar snapped. "Have you been going to see that WindClan she-cat again?"

"No!" The blue-gray tom meowed defensively. "I stopped when you asked me to."

"Then why have you brought kits that smell of WindClan to ThunderClan camp?" Hissed the ThunderClan leader. "I saw the kits. Two of them clearly had some traits that resembled you."

Crowfoot sighed. "Yes, they are my kits. She asked me to take them because she said that the WindClan leader wouldn't let her keep them anyway. I couldn't just let them die."

"I am not angry for you bringing the kits here, but what are we going to tell the Clan? Are we just going to make an announcement to say the ThunderClan deputy broke the warrior code and these new kits are a result from it?" Copperstar had started pacing in front of Crowfoot. "I'm not as worried about the kits, though. If we speak as little about their heritage as possible, they will be loyal ThunderClan warriors long before it ever become an issue, I'm sure. It's you I'm more worried about. You are very well respected among the Clan and you already have two daughters that are great warriors. Froststreak was even guarding the camp tonight, how do you think she reacted? How do you think the rest of the Clan will react? You also broke your promise to not go back to see this cat again when you went to get the kits. You obviously will have a punishment."

"Any punishment you come up with will be more than fair."

Copperstar stopped pacing and sat down, letting his head hang limply. He began to speak without looking at the younger tom. "Crowfoot you know I am on my last life. You are a brave and loyal warrior and the best deputy that has served under me. I was sure this thing with the WindClan she-cat was just a fling to get over the loss of Silverstripe. I was a fool and I should have punished you properly when I first found out about this. Crowfoot, as punishment for breaking the warrior code, breaking your promise to me and showing disloyalty to the Clan you will be demoted from ThunderClan deputy. At sun-high I will announce your demotion, though I won't say why. By moon-high there will be a new deputy. Now leave my den."

Crowfoot dipped his head and left for the warrior's den. He stride was filled with shame and regret and his tail dragged behind him as he made his way across the camp. "StarClan please do not punish these kits for my mistakes. Please guide their paws so they never make mistakes like mine, either."

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**Hey, I hope you enjoyed the prologue! There will not be an alliances, but I hope to get the first chapter up shortly. The first chapter will take place many moon after the prologue, the kits Crowfoot brought back will be about ten moons old and in the middle of their apprenticeship. Feel free to review, I'd love to hear from you guys! ~Blaze  
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	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the original warriors series, for it is by Erin Hunter.**

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**Chapter One**

There was a slight sound of a dead leave cracking in the distance, just enough to alert the pale golden she-cat. She opened her mouth and smelled the slight, yet fresh, scent of a mouse in the bushes not to far away. She silently fell in to a hunter's crouch and stalked forward. Her path was covered in dead, fallen leaves and the crunching sound of one breaking under her wait wasn't unexpected. The mouse from the bushes took this as a warning sign and dashed out and away from the bushes. The she-cat didn't hesitate to chase the mouse, and quickly got close enough the pounce on her prey. After catching the tiny animal between her claws, she quickly nipped the mouse in the neck and it was dead. She quickly thanked StarClan for her catch before carrying the mouse over to a group of four other cats.

"Great catch, Blazepaw!" Meowed an older she-cat. Blazepaw grinned happily at her mentor compliment.

"That's nothing," Snorted a black and white tom playfully. "You should see the big blackbird Swiftpaw caught!" His tail twitched you a fluffy blue-gray apprentice with a blackbird in her jaws. She looked away to hide her embarrassment she felt when her mentor gloated.

"Always the humble one, Swiftpaw," Came an amused mew from a golden tabby she-cat. "You should take a lesson from your apprentice, Flashfang." The tom rolled his eyes at the she-cat's joke.

"We should start heading back to camp, I think we've caught as much as we can this hunting patrol," Continued the golden tabby. "I'm sure Emberstar will be proud of both these apprentices."

The five cats padded back to the ThunderClan camp. Aside from Blazepaw, the hunting patrol was made up of her mentor, Silkrose, her sister Swiftpaw and her mentor Flashfang. The ThunderClan deputy Sunpetal finished off the group. Blazepaw padded next to Swiftpaw and pressed her flank to her sister's to express the pride she felt for her sister. The two sister and their brother were all extremely close and rarely felt jealousy towards one another.

"Why don't you two bring some prey to the elders and make sure they have fresh bedding?" Suggested Silkrose.

"But that was Aurorapaw's duty today!" Protested Swiftpaw. Aurorapaw, the other warrior apprentice in ThunderClan, was also very close to the siblings. Her mother, Snowfall, had raised all four of them although Aurorapaw was her only kit. Aurorapaw was mentored by Emberstar and Blazepaw often heard Swiftpaw musing about Aurorapaw getting special treatment due to this. Blazepaw didn't exactly agree with her sister, but Aurorapaw was notorious for neglecting to tend to the elders while she trained with Emberstar. Aurorapaw was a kind hearted she-cat and Blazepaw didn't believe that she was purposely shirking her duties.

"It's always a good idea to check," Flashfang added as he padded off. "Why don't you take them your blackbird?" Swiftpaw gave an annoyed look to her mentor before she picked up the blackbird and padded off towards the elder's den.

"Wait up!" Blazepaw called, picking up her own piece of prey for the elders and chasing after her sister.

Aurorapaw had indeed forgotten to change the elder's bedding and left Blazepaw and Swiftpaw to do it for her. This had put Swiftpaw in somewhat of a sour mood, and left her glaring at the mouse her and Blazepaw were currently sharing.

"Wow Swiftpaw, if this mopuse weren't already dead it'd surely die from fear," Blazepaw joked. Swiftpaw immediately stopped her glaring.

"Sorry," She mewed, her gaze not meeting her sister's. Swiftpaw then grumbled something about Aurorapaw and took a bite out of the prey.

"Swiftpaw! Blazepaw!" Meowed a she-cat from across the clearing. It was Aurorapaw. The white and gray she-cat bounded happily across the clearing to meet up with her friends.

"We just had the most fun battle training ever!" Aurorapaw started excitedly. Emberstar was big on having battle training for warriors as well as apprentices to work on new techniques and perfect old ones. She didn't want ThunderClan to look weak in the eyes of the other Clans after Copperstar, the previous leader who died when Blazepaw and her littermates were just kits, lost his last four lives within moons of each other.

"There was Eclipseclaw, Sparkpelt, Rustsong, Goldtail, Couldpath and Froststreak," Swiftpaw flinched at Froststreak's name, she felt the older she-cat acted hostilely to herself and her siblings, "We were in teams of two and we had to try to steal the other team's rock first but every time it was hidden in a different place. The last time it was hidden in a tree and Eclipseclaw wasn't looking where he was jumping and landed on Goldtail and they fell into a bush of nettles!" Aurorapaw purred with amusement at the memory.

Blazepaw looked pasted Aurorapaw into the medicine cat's den where, surely enough, Duskstipe and his apprentice Flickerpaw were pulling nettles out of the two warriors' flanks. Flickerpaw, the medicine cat apprentice, was Blazepaw and Swiftpaw's younger brother. He was often sick as a kit and probably spent more time in the medicine cat's den than in the nursery. Flickerpaw was now much stronger and hadn't gotten sick since his last time when he was a kit, which Blazepaw and Swiftpaw thanked StarClan for. Since Flickerpaw was often in the medicine cat's den, Duskstripe taught him a little about herbs while he was an kit, which caught his interest and inspired Flickerpaw to train to be the next medicine cat.

"After the fall," Aurorapaw continued. "Emberstar ran up to them and was very angry. She was yelling at them for being mouse-brained and told them if they wanted to behave like kits she could send them back to the nursery and then Goldtail meows, 'I'd be perfectly happy with that, my mate's in there!' Emberstar got so mad awhile the rest of us thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Now Goldtail and Eclipseclaw have to tend to the elders for a moon!"

"Lucky for them we already brought the elders new bedding today." Swiftpaw murmured. Aurorapaw fell silent for a second.

"I am so sorry!" She wailed. "I was on dawn patrol and then I forgot to clean out the old bedding before I went to battle training. Sorry this keeps happening."

"Well, at least none of us have to do it for a moon," Blazepaw meowed happily, easing the tension between her sister and her friend. The other two she-cats agreed silently. The three sat quietly before Blazepaw suggested Swiftpaw share how she caught her blackbird. They eased into a casual conversation about the events of the day before Aurorapaw excused herself to get some rest.

Blazepaw watched the white and gray tabby head towards the apprentice den."We should probably be getting some rest as well, I should probably get a little sleep before I have to go on the moon-high patrol." She looked back at her sister who was gazing at nothing with an annoyed look on her face.

"What's up?" Blazepaw questioned.

"I just don't like how Aurorapaw gets all this special treatment because her mentor's the leader," Swiftpaw replied.

"Aurorapaw doesn't get any more special treatment then we do. I mean, aside from normal training Flashfang is also giving you special training with how to use your speed in battles. And Silkrose is teaching me how to use my endurance to my advantage. We both get special training for those things."

"That's not what I mean," Grumbled Swiftpaw. "Aurorapaw gets to do any training she wants and doesn't have to do the duties she doesn't want to do. Yeah, we get special training, but we don't get to shirk our responsibilities like she does."

Blazepaw shook her head in disagreement. But, before she could speak again, Swiftpaw had already begun to walk off the the apprentice den. Swiftpaw was frustrated with Aurorapaw and didn't need her sister standing up for her. Blazepaw stretched and followed her sister, hoping to get some sleep before the moon-high patrol.

"Hold still you giant furball!" Duskstripe hissed at Eclipseclaw.

"But it hurts!" The young gray and black warrior whined.

"Well, you should have though of that before you jumped without looking." The light brown and black stripped medicine cat growled with annoyance.

"You should actually be happy you landed in that nettle bush," Flickerpaw started while he pulled a nettle out of Goldtail's, who yelped in pain, yellow tabby pelt. "It would have been much worse if you landed on the hard ground."

Eclipseclaw shot a glare at the medicine cat in training while Duskstripe conformed Flickerpaw's statement. "He's right. The nettle bush broke your fall and you only had to pay for your stupidity with a few nettles-"

"A few nettles? This is way more than a-"

"Don't interrupt!" Hissed Duskstripe at Eclipseclaw once again. "If you hadn't been fortunate enough to land in the bush and instead on the ground, you would have probably broken some bones. Well, at least Goldtail, since you landed on him."

Goldtail hissed at the younger warrior, his pelt prickling with anger. "You could have killed me you stupid piece of-"

"I never said kill!" Growled Duskstipe loudly. "What is with these young warriors today and completely missing the point?" You two should be thanking StarClan for landing in that bush, even though there are more favorable places to land, but instead you try to start a fight over what could have happened? If Copperstar were still leader he would be extremely disappointed in you. Emberstar is much to forgiving as a leader. She says she wants to make us look stronger but then goes easy on the punishments? Copperstar never would've..." Duskstripe padded off deeper into the den to organize herbs, rambling about Copperstar and forgetting to dismiss the two warriors. Goldtail and Eclipseclaw watched in confusion as the elderly medicine cat left and Flickerpaw rolled his eyes.

"Does this happen often?" Asked Goldtail, his anger at Eclipseclaw completely dissolved as a wave of what seemed to be worry washed over him. Flickerpaw looked at the warrior with confusion.

"Yeah...?"

There was a long pause of silence before Eclipseclaw vocalized what was going through both warriors' minds. "Wow, I didn't think Duskstripe's age was really affecting him that much until now."

"I heard that!" Came an annoyed hiss from Duskstripe.

"Well, it seems like it's time for me to get going. Gingersky is probably worried about me," Goldtail meowed, rushing out of the den,

"Thank Duskstripe for me, Flickerpaw, I should get going, too," Eclipseclaw also meowed as he left in somewhat of a hurry.

Duskstripe was very old. Cedarnose, the elder with arguably the best memory, had once recalled that even though Duskstripe was the medicine cat apprentice when he was an apprentice, he had received his full medicine cat name before Cedarnose could remember. Duskstripe was the oldest cat in the Clan, and should have retired to the elder's den many moons ago, but couldn't without an apprentice to take his place. Duskstripe did in fact have two medicine cat apprentices prior to Flickerpaw, the first had even received their full medicine cat name, but both had met unfortunate fates and died, leaving Duskstripe to keep holding the medicine cat position. Flickerpaw had often heard cat's whisper that being the medicine cat for so long was driving Duskstripe to insanity. Flickerpaw disagreed. A grumpy old furball? Yes. Insane? No. Duskstripe was just very passionate about his duties, old, and very much missed Copperstar, that was all.

"These warriors today," Duskstripe started, sitting behind his apprentice and observing the camp as Flickerpaw had been doing. "No respect. Especially that Eclipseclaw. He just became a warrior, and did you hear him complaining about that punishment he got? Do your sisters act that mouse-brained, Flickerpaw?"

"Not at all." Flickerpaw's thoughts drifted to his sisters. Both Blazepaw and Swiftpaw were very smart, despite that fact Blazepaw had too much energy for her own good and Swiftpaw was secretly paranoid. He could see Blazepaw jumping through trees like Eclipseclaw had, though, except she wouldn't have fallen because she didn't think to look, she would've fallen because she didn't have time to look. Swiftpaw on the other hand would never do such a thing. Too dangerous. She hated climbing trees, Swiftpaw was much more of a running through the undergrowth type.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Meowed Duskstripe, interrupting Flickerpaw's thoughts. "You've done very good today. I'm proud."

"Thanks, Duskstripe," Flickerpaw grinned as he left to his bedding. The young ginger tom curled up in a ball when he reached his bedding and began to drift off to sleep.

Oddly, in the distance he thought he could hear some cat murmuring to him, _"Sleep now, young medicine cat, it's only going to get worse."_

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_**And that was the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and I apologize for the wait, I hope to get the second chapter up sooner. This chapter was very much a filler chapter to introduce most of the main characters. This chapter may not have been the most interesting thing you have ever read, but most filler chapters are like that. So feel free to review, tell me what you liked, tell me what you disliked, or whatever, I love hearing from you all! ~ Blaze**_  
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